Exactly 23 days ago, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner branded Sergio Perez’s performances “unsustainable”, following his point-less finish in the British Grand Prix.
Perez’s results in the two races since then were better, though only slightly. Yet following widespread speculation the team would make a change during the summer break, yesterday Red Bull let it be known that Perez is going nowhere for the time being.
Has Perez received too little credit for his response to Horner’s Silverstone warning? Or has something else changed in Red Bull’s calculations which have made what was an “unsustainable” situation suddenly sustainable – or at least tolerable?
Perez’s performance
Horner’s criticism of Perez’s performances followed a dismal five-race run for Red Bull’s second driver. He dropped out in Q1 in Monaco, then was eliminated from the race in a first-lap crash. He also failed to reach Q2 in Canada, then crashed out by himself in the race.
In Spain he was eighth, last of the drivers from the top four teams, a position he also held at the next race in Austria until Lando Norris’ late retirement. Then came the British Grand Prix, where he spun out in Q1 again and failed to reach the points after switching to intermediate tyres too early in the race.
From five rounds Perez scored just 11 points (one coming his way in the Austria sprint race). Next to that, 13 points from the last two rounds is a modest improvement, though his contribution to Red Bull’s total is dwarfed by that of his team mate Max Verstappen.
Still, what Horner described as “unsustainable” at Silverstone was not Perez’s low-scoring but no-scoring. “He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points,” said Horner.
“We have to be scoring points with that car and he knows that. He knows his role and his target.” With this modest uplift, has Perez started to hit that target?
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Over the last two races, Perez qualified poorly again in Hungary but salvaged seventh in the race. Although he sank from second to seventh at Spa (eighth before George Russell’s disqualification), he also provided a useful benefit by aiding Verstappen’s efforts to out-score Norris, his closest rival in the drivers’ championship.
In the last two races Perez gave Red Bull confidence they could rely on him to do the minimum – top up Verstappen’s big points…
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